As far as the appearance was concerned, the fish looked very similar to the freshwater fish that was usually found in Chandapura Lake, but the only difference was its shimmering surface and its flight without wings.
Rudra didn’t know what to expect, but with his heart beating out of his chest, he held the bone spear tight and moved forward one step at a time with his gaze intently focused on the fish.
Prabhu walked right next to him, and Laila walked a few steps behind them, followed by all the other people.
Rudra walked past a fish that was only a meter away, and it didn’t seem to care, so a sliver of excitement appeared on his face. He thought that he didn’t have to worry, but the situation took a drastic turn when the common people were about to walk past the fish.
Around a dozen of them sharply turned their bodies towards the people, and their mouths, lined with row after row of sharp teeth, moved up and down.
"Oh no." Rudra’s heart sank, and he swiftly fell back to the group.
His heart thundered like a drum. He didn’t know how strong the fish were. If they were anything like the monsters, then there was a very high chance that none of them would make it out of the situation alive.
There was no time to regret his decision. After letting out a bunch of bubbles, which was odd considering they were not in water, the fish swam towards him like a swordfish cutting through water.
Rudra had the sharpest senses, so although he wasn’t completely able to track the trajectory of the fish, he was able to sense where they were targeting.
Unfortunately, he noticed that they were not just aiming for him, and he didn’t have enough time to alert Prabhu and Laila. He could only trust them this time.
His hand turned into a blur, and the bone spear flashed at lightning speed.
Rudra felt a little resistance, but it was not too intense. In a single swing, he was able to cut four fish. However, looking to his sides, his expression darkened.
Prabhu was able to take down two fish, while Laila was able to take down three.
However, the number of fish that came their way was simply too numerous, and a few were inevitably able to breach through their defences and attack the normal people in their group.
Pandit ji clutched his chest in pain and collapsed from blood loss.
Balram and Deepak were hit in several places of the body as well, but thankfully, their injuries didn’t seem to be critical.
However, the worst situation was the fish with a dab of blood on their mouths, which swam towards Pandit ji and started to nibble on his body as if it were fish food on the surface of the water.
Everything happened too suddenly, and no one could respond immediately. Rudra understood the critical situation of Pandit Ji and wanted to act, but he wasn’t completely healed yet, and his body could not keep up with the swiftness of his mind.
The first slash already made his hand and chest ache.
Yet, despite the pain, looking at Pandit chanting his personal deity’s name again and again, seemingly enduring insurmountable pain, he clenched his teeth till the gums bled and willed his body to move.
"Die." He growled and swung the spear at the four fish that were munching on Pandit ji’s flesh.
The air crackled, the wind exploded, and in an instant, three fish were split in half while the other was taken care of by Prabhu, who recovered a second after him.
Rudra’s breath was ragged, but looking at the condition of Pandit ji’s body, he felt saddened.
Blood had already formed a puddle under the man, and his face had turned white.
His mouth was still moving, the chanting of Patalamma barely audible. But he didn’t know if the man could survive. If he were immediately taken to a well-stocked hospital with the required blood, maybe he would be saved, but they were in a town engulfed by chaos.
"Couldn’t it rain now? Damn it!" He looked to the sky and cursed.
Maybe if Pandit ji had a special physique just like him, his wounds would heal by themselves, but unfortunately, the sky was clear as day.
With a saddened look on his face, he motioned for Balram and Harish to quickly bandage their limbs and pack up the fish corpses. He wanted to see how they were different from normal fish, but just as he was about to pick up Pandit ji’s body and bury him somewhere else if he died, the lake began to boil, and hundreds of similar fish rose from within.
Their mouths bubbled as their attention remained completely focused on Pandit ji’s body.
Rudra’s heart tightened, and he made a decision right away.
"Run!" Pulling Deepak with all his might, he ran. His thighs were burning, and he could feel them bleeding, but he did not stop and continued to cover the distance.
Prabhu pulled Balram and Kavya in a similar way while Laila dragged Lingaraj and the last person in the group, Pritam.
A sound like a thousand bubbles bursting at the same time reached his ears. He hesitantly turned back while running, and seeing the swarm of fish swimming towards Pandit ji, he felt a jolt in his stomach.
Pandit ji’s chest, which was still showing signs of life, completely stopped as the fish dug into his body, and soon he was nothing but a pile of bones.
He looked at the fish with horror.
They started off with 11 people, but now there were only 8. He couldn’t help but become pessimistic about the future. Unfortunately, the thoughts he allowed to appear as a form of distraction from his pain could no longer keep his composure intact.
His legs gave way, and he stumbled to the ground, making not only him roll several times and come to a halt, but also making Deepak take a fall with him and worsen his injury.
Rudra felt exhaustion like never before, but he knew he had to get to a safe place.
Looking around, his eyes lit up when he found a gas refill station nearby.
"Let’s go there." He pointed and instructed.
Prabhu and Laila were quite tired as well, but their situation was definitely better than Rudra’s.
With the help of Deepak and others, Rudra was finally able to enter the gas refill station and collapsed in the corner.
He ripped open the bandages that could no longer hold on to the hot blood threatening to burst through beneath and ordered Laila to suture the wound.
Laila showed hesitation, which made Rudra impatient. "Do it now," he growled.
Laila trembled but came to understand the gravity of the situation. She pulled out a needle and a thread from her bag and started suturing Rudra’s skin.
Rudra felt an excruciating amount of pain, and he had to bite down on his bag to stop himself from yelling. He could tell the suturing was extremely unprofessional, and Laila even caused secondary tears along the way, but the blood flow did reduce.
With Rudra calming down, it was as if everyone found their pillar of support again.
They bandaged themselves and stared into the distance in silence. Although they didn’t want to admit it, Pandit ji did fill everyone with a slight bit of hope, of courage to keep going, but now he was gone, just like that.
Rudra felt his stomach grumble and reached into his bag for the packed food.
His expression changed when the hand that went into his bag came out through a hole on the other side.
’Did one of the fish hit my bag?’ His eyes widened. His hatred for the fish increased so much that he wished he could grind their bodies to dust.
Noticing his situation, the others stretched out some of their food, and Rudra accepted it without hesitation.
However, even after eating the food given by everyone, he was only half satisfied, but he didn’t want to ask for more. Instead, he took out a half-cut fish and started dissecting it.
In just a moment, the floor was covered with the fish’s flesh and scattered parts. However, he still couldn’t figure out what the difference was.
In the end, he came to the conclusion that the changes in the body should not be physical, but rather metaphysical and driven by some mysterious phenomenon. Rudra immediately thought about the energy circulating in his body and felt that the two things were linked.
He didn’t find any poisoned gland or anything else that could indicate poison, so technically, it shouldn’t be poisonous. Yet he still felt repulsed by the thought of putting the fish meat into his mouth.
Then the looks on everyone’s faces when they handed over their food came to his mind. Gritting his teeth, he put an extremely thin slice of the fish’s flesh into his mouth and chewed it in a single bite.
A minute passed.
Nothing happened.
Just when he thought the fish had no effect on his body and was about to heave a sigh of relief, glad that he didn’t have to die after all, changes began to take place.
A bright light gleamed in his eyes.